Senders

Lucidity/Lividity [12-inch] (2011)

Joe Pelone

Senders walk that sweet, sweet line between power sludge metal (Still best exemplified by Torche) and more commercial alternative rock a la Hum. Within that niche lies a whole sonic gamut for the band, ranging from droning opener "Science" to more anthemic material like "Gas." So let's just call them a "punk" band and move on. Pick your subgenre; the band's new album Lucidity/Lividity is super fine.

Much like Torche, Senders' vocals manage to be clean and pop-minded without shifting into operatic Dio maneuvers (Not that there's anything wrong with Dio, I loves me some Holy Diver), although frontman the vox still pack in the grit. The tunes themselves, again, strike a nice balance. Songs like "Walls" have a lot of atmospheric guitar textures going on, but the track still gets to the face-rocking in due time.

The downside to all this fine tuning is that, well, the tracks kind of blur together after a while, and not in a cool metalgaze kind of way. Lucidity/Lividity is a solid record, one listeners can almost get lost in, but it has a jack of all trades, master of none thing going on. It's never quite heavy or ethereal enough, and instead dips on occasion into this kind of mellow limbo.

Still, though, Lucidity delivers alternately throat-clearing, head-bobbing sludge that should get heads banging. It grinds when it wants to, but it's not afraid to hit on a good groove. Basically, use Torche's Songs for Singles as the fulcrum; Lucidity/Lividity is both more and less commercial than that. It all comes down to which song is playing at the time.